Superintendent-elect Timothy Chargois, left, talks to the parents as Superintendent Carrol Thomas sits to the right at Pietzsch-MacArthur Elementary Wednesday morning June 20, 2012. Chargois talked about what he hopes he be doing as the new leader of the district and took questions from the audience. Dave Ryan/The Enterprise less

Superintendent-elect Timothy Chargois, left, talks to the parents as Superintendent Carrol Thomas sits to the right at Pietzsch-MacArthur Elementary Wednesday morning June 20, 2012. Chargois talked about what ... more

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Superintendent-elect Timothy Chargois, left, waits his turn as Superintendent Carrol Thomas, right, briefly talks to the parents. and Chargois and Thomas addressed parents at Pietzsch-MacArthur Elementary Wednesday morning June 20, 2012. Chargois talked about what he hopes to focus on as the new leader of the district and took questions from the audience. Dave Ryan/The Enterprise less

Superintendent-elect Timothy Chargois, left, talks to the parents as Superintendent Carrol Thomas sits to the right at Pietzsch-MacArthur Elementary Wednesday morning June 20, 2012. Chargois talked about what he hopes he be doing as the new leader of the district and took questions from the audience. Dave Ryan/The Enterprise less

Superintendent-elect Timothy Chargois, left, talks to the parents as Superintendent Carrol Thomas sits to the right at Pietzsch-MacArthur Elementary Wednesday morning June 20, 2012. Chargois talked about what ... more

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Superintendent-elect Timothy Chargois, right, and Superintendent Carrol Thomas, left, leave the morning meeting after addressing parents at Pietzsch-MacArthur Elementary Wednesday morning June 20, 2012. Chargois talked about what he hopes he be doing as the new leader of the district and took questions from the audience. Dave Ryan/The Enterprise less

Superintendent-elect Timothy Chargois, left, talks to the parents as Superintendent Carrol Thomas sits to the right at Pietzsch-MacArthur Elementary Wednesday morning June 20, 2012. Chargois talked about what he hopes he be doing as the new leader of the district and took questions from the audience. Dave Ryan/The Enterprise less

Superintendent-elect Timothy Chargois, left, talks to the parents as Superintendent Carrol Thomas sits to the right at Pietzsch-MacArthur Elementary Wednesday morning June 20, 2012. Chargois talked about what ... more

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Superintendent-elect Timothy Chargois, talks to the parents at Pietzsch-MacArthur Elementary Wednesday morning June 20, 2012. Chargois talked about what he hopes he be doing as the new leader of the district and took questions from the audience. Dave Ryan/The Enterprise less

Superintendent-elect Timothy Chargois, talks to the parents at Pietzsch-MacArthur Elementary Wednesday morning June 20, 2012. Chargois talked about what he hopes he be doing as the new leader of the district ... more

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Tanya Grant talks about Superintendent-elect Timothy Chargois and Superintendent Carrol Thomas after the two had addressed parents at Pietzsch-MacArthur Elementary Wednesday morning June 20, 2012. Chargois talked about what he hopes he be doing as the new leader of the district and took questions from the audience. Dave Ryan/The Enterprise less

Tanya Grant talks about Superintendent-elect Timothy Chargois and Superintendent Carrol Thomas after the two had addressed parents at Pietzsch-MacArthur Elementary Wednesday morning June 20, 2012. Chargois ... more

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Superintendent-elect Timothy Chargois, addresses questions after the meeting with parents at Pietzsch-MacArthur Elementary Wednesday morning June 20, 2012. Chargois talked about what he hopes he be doing as the new leader of the district and took questions from the audience. Dave Ryan/The Enterprise less

Superintendent-elect Timothy Chargois, addresses questions after the meeting with parents at Pietzsch-MacArthur Elementary Wednesday morning June 20, 2012. Chargois talked about what he hopes he be doing as the ... more

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Tonya Watkins, center, talks about Superintendent-elect Timothy Chargois and Superintendent Carrol Thomas after the two had addressed parents at Pietzsch-MacArthur Elementary Wednesday morning June 20, 2012. Chargois talked about what he hopes he be doing as the new leader of the district and took questions from the audience. Dave Ryan/The Enterprise less

Tonya Watkins, center, talks about Superintendent-elect Timothy Chargois and Superintendent Carrol Thomas after the two had addressed parents at Pietzsch-MacArthur Elementary Wednesday morning June 20, 2012. ... more

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Superintendent Carrol Thomas addressed parents at Pietzsch-MacArthur Elementary Wednesday morning June 20, 2012 while Superintendent-elect Timothy Chargois waited his turn. Chargois talked about what he hopes he be focusing on as the new leader of the district and took questions from the audience. Dave Ryan/The Enterprise less

Superintendent Carrol Thomas addressed parents at Pietzsch-MacArthur Elementary Wednesday morning June 20, 2012 while Superintendent-elect Timothy Chargois waited his turn. Chargois talked about what he hopes he be focusing on as the new leader of the district and took questions from the audience. Dave Ryan/The Enterprise less

Clifton Thomas talks about Superintendent-elect Timothy Chargois, Superintendent Carrol Thomas, and BISD in general after a meeting where the two had addressed parents at Pietzsch-MacArthur Elementary Wednesday morning June 20, 2012. Chargois talked about what he hopes he be doing as the new leader of the district and took questions from the audience. Dave Ryan/The Enterprise less

Clifton Thomas talks about Superintendent-elect Timothy Chargois, Superintendent Carrol Thomas, and BISD in general after a meeting where the two had addressed parents at Pietzsch-MacArthur Elementary ... more

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Chargois: Focused on kids and not 'distracted' by contract controversy

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Improving STAAR scores and communication between administrators and parents, and using money where it matters are the challenges that incoming Beaumont ISD superintendent Timothy Chargois says he plans to tackle when he takes over on Sept. 1.

Past and present controversies - the latest including wording in his new contract - are not priorities for the superintendent-elect.

Instead, top of the list for Chargois is STAAR - Texas' latest standardized test.

The state failed to appropriately prepare students and teachers for the new and harder test, he said on Wednesday.

Students at the state and district level performed poorly on the writing portion of the end-of-course exam, which was taken primarily by ninth-graders. Only 52 percent of Beaumont ISD students passed and only 55 percent of all students in the state passed that portion of the exam.

Contact dispute

Chargois noted on Wednesday that any dispute about his contract "has been no distraction" for him.

Chargois' superintendent contract does not take effect until Sept. 1, one day after current superintendent, Carrol Thomas, retires.

As new superintendent, Chargois will earn $215,000 annually and will be eligible for automatic yearly raises - a sticking point for some school board trustees.

School board members Mike Neil and Tom Neild filed a lawsuit last month against Tanner Hunt, an attorney who represented the district in salary negotiations with Chargois' attorney.

Neil and Neild claim in their filing that Hunt and the school district withheld from the board documents and correspondence related to Chargois' contract, including discussion of a salary increase for him if teachers got a raise. The board members claim the raise section of the contract was to be left blank.

Read about how Chargois wants to boost parental involvement in the district in Thursday's print edition of The Beaumont Enterprise